Music has a new (pint-sized!) diva. Standing at just five feet tall, Ariana Grande has taken the musical world by storm this year, and her sophomore album has now surged to the #1 spot on iTunes’ album sales chart.

The Florida-born singer, 21, talked to Parade about her new album, My Everything, the recent cancelation of her hit Nickelodeon show, how her love life finds a way into her music, and more.

Tell us about your new album.“I think it’s definitely more mature-sounding — and more pop-sounding, which I’m very excited about. I never thought I’d embrace pop as much as I have now. I love it and I think going forward, I’m willing to really embrace it more and more. I was so afraid of that for a while, but I’m really exited about it and I think that my fans will love it — I put too much work into it for them not to.”

You’re 21 now. Do you think you’re still thought of as a teen queen?“I feel like I’m being accepted as an adult more now than ever before, but I don’t really feel like doing anything annoying or shocking to convey my maturity. I’ll just have to wait patiently. People who pay attention can see that I’ve grown up, but then again, I’m not really rushing.”

Have you experienced real love — and how does that influence your music?“I think that love is one of the most important things in the world — if not the most important thing. You need to do everything with love and being in love is wonderful of course, but if you do things with love in general, you will always win. I wrote ‘Problem’ with Ilya and Max Martin a very long time ago and it was just about how I was feeling at the moment. I was scared to reapproach this relationship with this person that I was literally obsessed and in love with. I was like, ‘I love you, but I’m terrified with the idea of being with you.’ All my friends would be mad and have trouble opening up to the idea of me getting back together with this person, but I was like, it’s going to be worth it. The end of the song has a sassier ending, but in real life, it had a really positive, wonderful ending. And then in ‘Break Free,’ I didn’t have anybody to sing the song about at the time. so I sang it about fear and a bunch of negativity and ego and things in my life that I felt were really holding me back.”

What has been your biggest pinch-me moment in the past year?“I really loved the Billboard Music Awards, that was the most fun ever. And I loved putting out ‘Problem’ because I was so nervous about that song — it’s so different for me. I’ve become more open about taking risks and I’ve seen how that can pay off. ‘Problem’ sounded more contemporary than any song I’ve done before, so I was nervous to embrace it in the beginning.”

Your Nickelodeon show Sam & Cat was canceled this summer. How do you feel?“I feel unhappy about it. It was such a huge part of my life, but I do feel like I’m very excited for what’s coming up and so are my. It’s a great situation.”

You’re somewhat of an old soul — you love old movies and music. What’s your connection to the ‘50s and ‘60s?“I don’t really know, I asked my friend Ruthie and she thinks it could be from a past life. And I think my grandparents definitely influenced the music and movies that I liked when I was really young. I would insist on watching Judy Garland every day and watching Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, and Mickey Rooney. It was always old movies or shockingly scary movies. It was either death or jolly show tunes!”

When did you first know you had a special voice?“I was really young and singing ‘N Sync in the car with my mom and did one of Justin Timberlake’s high riffs my mom was like, ‘Wait a minute, was that you? Do that again!’ I didn’t think anything of it. And when I started musical theater, my friends started reacting to my voice and I was like, ‘Hey, thanks!’”

Tell us about your retro style these days?“I was tired of being a girly girl. I think because my character on Sam & Cat was so girly in a little girl kind of way. My style is evolving, actually who am I kidding, I’m kind of a girly girl! I just hate to say it because I think it comes with a certain reputation that doesn’t really belong to me, but I do like to wear more feminine things. My personal style is somewhat casual and chill, but I always like to wear heals. And my stage persona is this ‘60s Ann-Margret/Nancy Sinatra vibe. But moving into this next single ‘Break Free,’ my style is heavily inspired by Jane Fonda in Barbarella — I really love that movie. I’m so excited to make that shift because it’s still retro, but it’s something new.”

You’re really active on Twitter. What does it take for someone to get a follow from you?“I usually just follow people who will say interesting things and I’ll realize that I’m not following them already. If it’s a fan, I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I don’t follow this person’ and then I’ll follow them. Spam is not the way to get a follow, but saying anything else is the way to get a follow. If it has the number 336 at the end because you’ve sent it 336 times, chances are I must skip past your cloud of follow requests! But I try to follow as many as possible.”

What was it like growing up in Boca Raton, Florida?“It made for a really great childhood. I grew up with my Italian family and my amazing gold-lamé-wearing, poker playing, swearing grandparents, who are the greatest people on the planet! My grandfather [who passed away in July] was just hilarious. I love my family and I’m proud to come from a fun-loving, mildly dysfunctional, loud, loving Italian family.”